Black Widow Solo Film Moving Forward With Blacklist Screenwriter

Marvel Studios has hired Jac Schaeffer to write a script for the Black Widow solo movie. Starting back in Iron Man 2, Marvel fans were introduced to Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow. Ever since that debut, and especially after The Avengers and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, interest in the character getting a bigger role has only grown. Sadly, that has yet to be the case for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, even if she has continued to pop up in other films and be a core member of the Avengers team.

With people clamoring to see a Black Widow solo movie one day hit theaters, Marvel Studios has continued to say publicly they were committed to making such a film. That was nearly two years ago, and still nothing had transpired. But, it looks like that is changing.

The Wrap reports Marvel Studios has hired Blacklist screenwriter Jac Schaeffer to pen a script for Black Widow. There is no word on what the studio’s vision is for such a solo movie, but this is the best news yet that signals Johansson will indeed get a film all her own. This is not yet official from Marvel Studios however, and may not be for some time, but it looks like Black Widow is finally happening.

Despite the public backing by several key figures in the MCU family, Black Widow‘s status as an actual future film was still questionable at best before now. Johansson’s contract was set to expire after Avengers 4 just like those of the other original Avengers stars, but this move indicates Johansson has signed some sort of extension to continue playing the former spy. By the time Black Widow hits theaters – and barring any surprise cameos – this will mark Johansson’s eighth appearance as the character.

Schaeffer may not be a recognizable name, but her status as a Blacklist Screenwriter is big. She developed a 2014 Blacklist script for Anne Hathaway, and wrote the script for the female remake of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, called Nasty Women. She also has a connection to Disney already as she wrote the Olaf-centric short that played in front of Coco. Even if the short itself was deemed a nuisance, it wasn’t at the fault of Schaeffer’s writing.

With a writer being attached, Black Widow should be an early candidate for Phase 4. It will still need a director and go through the rest of development and pre-production, but hitting a 2020 release date is very possible at this point. Still, this does not mean she makes it out of Avengers 4 alive necessarily, as many have expressed interest in seeing her back in her prime spy days. Those details may still be being finalized, so we’ll have to wait for more information on where Black Widow will go. For now though, it’s just good to know it is actually happening.